4: Nonchalantly, casually, Iroha Isshiki
assembles a future.
Cherry blossom petals were piled up in a corner of the courtyard.
It was just past the halfway point of April.
As time shifted, the color of the light filtering through the trees was
also changing. With each gust of the gentle, warm breeze, vivid
greens waved to the passing season.
Studying the branches where leaves had already replaced blossoms, I
pressed a button on the vending machine.
Without even looking at my hands, my fingers automatically reached
out for the usual brand of canned coffee. It fell with a clunk.
Can in hand, I wandered over to a bench in the school courtyard.
Nobody else would bother coming outside just for the ten-minute
break between classes.
Right now, the courtyard was mine—Hachiman Hikigaya's private
space. Worst case, they might levy a property tax in the name of
Hachiman Hikigaya. Seriously, the taxes are too high… Couldn't they
at least lower the consumption tax or something?
The emphasis on my concern for and interest in politics and
economics would Page | 81
governor at some point in the future. I squeezed the Max can in my
hands.
Life is bitter, so coffee, at least, should be sweet…
About to spoil myself with this sweet pleasure, I was trembling with
joy, enshrined with dignity in the center of the bench and feeling
increasingly more satisfied with myself—until I heard some gleeful
chattering getting closer and closer.
Someone had stepped into my private space. Come on, man. Who is
it? Pay up for the property tax, I thought as I glanced over
questioningly.
A few girls were ambling along the covered walkway. I assume they
were returning from a class in a different room—they were chatting
in a very lively manner as they headed back to the main school
building.
Among these girls, a pale head of hair happened to catch my eye.
Her hair was fluffy and shone in the sunlight, her big, round eyes as
charming as a little squirrel's. Her uniform was also worn just a bit
casually, and though the way she held the baggy cuffs of her
oversized cardigan sleeves was a familiar sight to me, I couldn't help
but find it adorable.
Well, she's always adorable—that's just Iroha Isshiki.
I'm so used to how careless and sloppy she acts in the clubroom and
student council room, I tend to forget. Seeing her with her friends, it
hit me again.
She's actually getting along well in her new class. That's nice, that's
nice…, I thought, watching her with avuncular fondness, which might
have been too much. She noticed me, and our eyes met for a
moment. Page | 82
Isshiki remained silent, opening her mouth like Ah. No, maybe it was
Ugh.
But the surprise showed on her face for only an instant, and she
immediately covered it with a little smile, doing a small wave in front
of her chest with her fingers just slightly peeking out from her
overlong cardigan sleeves.
That gesture and smile were so sneaky and secretive, like she was
doing it so the others couldn't see, like a sign for a lovers' tryst. It
was super-embarrassing.
I couldn't figure out how I should respond. All I could do was return
an eye signal somewhere between a nod and a bow. As I was busy
getting flustered, Isshiki went back to chatting with her friends
before vanishing into the main school building.
Once they were gone, I breathed a heavy and listless sigh, then
looked up at the sky.
How should I have reacted just now? Did she think I was ignoring
her? Should I have waved back? No, that'd be creepy, too. A bow?
Should I have bowed? If Isshiki had been alone, that could be an option,
but you act a little differently when there are other people around. Or
should I have used a fake yawn to just pretend I wasn't looking?
Whatever it is, thinking this hard about it really is creepy, huh?! That's
not good! I was screwed from the beginning!
Now that the courtyard was mine once again, I closed my eyes and
spent some time on a solo review meeting.
Once the Max can in my hand had grown somewhat lukewarm,
untouched by my lips, I heard the crunching sound of footsteps on
gravel.
"Heeey, you!" a sweet voice called out to me lightly, and I turned
toward it. Page | 83
For an instant, a soft, chilly sensation touched my cheek. When I
bent back in surprise, Iroha Isshiki, who I'd thought had passed by
just a moment ago, was standing right there, grinning mischievously
with an I LOHAS bottled water in her hand. Aha, so then she's a
booth babe handing out freebies? She's just that cute. What the heck,
too cute.
"H-hey… What, is something up?" I asked, rattled. The unspoken
question was: Didn't you go back to class?
Isshiki plopped herself down on the bench and said nonchalantly, "I
said I was stopping by the student council room and slipped out."
"Uh-huh…"
Despite her claim, she showed no sign of heading to the student
council room. Instead, she touched the plastic bottle in her hand to
her forehead, then blew out an exhausted-sounding sigh. "When you
say you're going to the washroom or to go buy a drink or something,
everyone just follows you, you know?" she said as she shook the
plastic bottle in her hands. Ah, so this I LOHAS had been bought as an
excuse to get away from her friends.
"Huh. Well, the new semester can be like that. You wind up going
together for everything."
Isshiki nodded back at me and inched one fist's worth closer. "For
suuure. That's why it's a good thing I can bring up the student
council…y'know, for times like these."
"True, it's a handy excuse. I get that, I get that." At this school, only
Iroha Isshiki had the character class of student council president. So
she only had to bring that up whenever she wanted to relax on her
own. I see, very convenient. Page | 84
When I nodded along, Isshiki stared dully back at me. "Do you really
get it?"
"Yeah. It's just like when you're coming back from a meeting outside
of work or school, and you're going in the same direction as
someone you've only just met, and it's just so awkward that you
start lying like, Oh, I have something to do after this… to shake them
off."
"Agh, that's totally different…" Isshiki sighed weakly and with utter
exasperation. Then she lightly touched a hand to her chest and
leaned in slightly to peer at my face. "That's not what I mean…" She
trailed off there, and then as if imparting a secret, she brought her
lips close to my ear and whispered softly, "…I mean times like this."
No one was even here, but the way she lowered her lovely voice felt
like a brief play bite on my earlobes.
"Uh…yeah, for sure. Times like this, huh? Right, so anyway, what—
what's up? What did you want?" I leaned away to escape the floral
scent and the ticklishness, grasping for words to cover my
embarrassment.
Isshiki nimbly came away. "Nothing in particular… Wait, you were
the one looking at me. I thought that meant you wanted me to come
over here. I mean, when I waved, you ignored it."
"No way could I respond to you then… I don't want to act weird; then
my friends would spread rumors about me…"
My charmingly bashful ploy, worthy of the heroines of old classic
games, did little to affect Isshiki's expression. "What?"
Hmm, maybe she's too young for that one. She looked really, actually
serious, not even prepping some comeback like You don't have any
friends, though. Page | 85
I remember having an exchange like this before, I thought, letting out
a tiny nostalgic chuckle through my nose.
Meanwhile, Isshiki was sighing again. "Well, some boys are like that,
huh. They won't talk to you unless they have a reason. Which also
means they'll make up some stupid reason to pester you with an
attempt at conversation."
"Hey, stop it—some guys can do their best if they have a chance.
Stop it."
But Isshiki wasn't listening. "Here I am thinking, You don't have to
bother coming all the way to me to ask what'll be on the test; you
should just ask your friends over there, and then they try to keep it
going on forever on LINE and you pretend to fall asleep, y'knooow?"
"Stop it, stop it, stop it. Stop prodding the soft spots of middle school
boys. Especially me. Sometimes one small action can change the
world… I do believe that…"
Everything is like that. With a twist on the everyday, you can change
the world. Let me change the world… I want to make miracles with
you…
As I was gazing far off into the distance while mentally assembling
my prayer of complaint, Isshiki watched me with a veeery dull look in
her eyes, but that eventually turned into a smile that silently asked,
What can you do? "Do you do that in your classroom, too? I know we
just got new classes."
"Well, yeah. And once you're in third year, you'll be somewhat
familiar with basically everyone, so people aren't really trying to go
out and build new relationships—and I don't just mean with me. So
there isn't really a need to talk with anyone." Page | 86
That was ultimately nothing more than my impression as an outsider,
but Isshiki gave my views an mm-hmm. "I see… Well, you already are
in third year, huh?"
"Yeah, I'm in third year…," I said, before my voice darkened a little.
"So now I've got different problems."
Isshiki cocked her head, which made her pale hair swish down to
hang over her white throat. Pushing aside the hairs that caught on
her colored lip gloss, Isshiki wordlessly asked for me to continue.
I quickly folded my arms and let my tone darken a little more as I
went on. "Some kids will start calling anything the last one of high
school, and it gets a little obnoxious…"
The troublesome thing about remarks like these is the fact that they
aren't entirely wrong. You could even say this moment right now
would be my own last something of high school.
It's not like I don't understand the desire to describe everything as
"the last X of high school," but if you say that, then every single day
winds up commemorating something. So you're Machi Tawara, huh?
It seemed my weariness had come out pretty clearly, regardless of
my intentions. Isshiki made a face, too. "Ahhh, like a couple who've
just started dating having an anniversary of whatever…"
"Yeah, yeah."
"Yeah, that is a little annoying… When they post that stuff on social
media, you're like, Ugh shut up, who cares, and you have to hit Like
anyway."
"Y-yeah, yeah…" I thought I'd been doing well listening along, but
then suddenly, I stuttered. I see—so Irohasu is the type who will
make sure to press Like, even if she secretly hates it. How nice… I
have absolutely no plans to post anything about anniversaries on Page | 87
social media, but that got me thinking that I should try to avoid
making people feel bad.
But even I am merely human. It's not like I don't get wanting to make
an anniversary special.
Everyone will have one or two dates they'd like to remember. Even a
trivial day of little importance can be an irreplaceable anniversary to
someone.
The biggest example of this is birthdays.
Thinking of that, I picked up the Max can I'd left on the bench beside
me and held it out to Isshiki. "Want this?"
"What? Uh, randomly offering someone a half-drunk drink is actually
a crime, though." Isshiki scoot-scoot-scooted over to the edge of the
bench, raising up both hands in front of her chest in a total defensive
stance.
"I haven't even had any yet… Look. This tab is totally untouched.
Pretty, isn't it? This is unopened, you know?" To prove that, I waved
the can and emphasized my innocence.
That seemed to win her over, as she inched back closer to her
original position. Then she reached out with trepidation to accept
the canned coffee from me. "Agh, well, thanks… Might as well take
it, then. I'm not really sure if I'll drink it, though…"
She is brutally honest, huh…? But I think it's nice, the way she won't
flatly reject another's goodwill, even when she's reluctant.
"Happy birthday," I said with a wry smile, putting the drink in her
hand.
But there was no answer from her. She stared dumbly at the Max
can enveloped in her hands. Page | 88
"…" She blinked, expression vacant, and then all I heard was an
unvoiced breath.
When I asked her with a look, What is it? she snapped out of it with a
gasp and started fidgeting with her bangs. "…Y-you remembered,
huh? You didn't say anything, so I thought for sure you'd forgotten."
"Nah, there just wasn't the right moment to say it…" When I'd first
caught sight of Isshiki, she'd been too far away, and once we'd
started talking, that surprise bottled water attack had made it out of
the question for the moment…
But I couldn't possibly forget Iroha Isshiki's birthday. She'd taken
every opportunity to draw attention to it before, and most of all, for
these past few days, the subject had been the talk of the Service
Club, of which I was a member. Apparently, that day after school, the
whole club was going to throw a surprise party.
But even if we were arranging a surprise, it would be too suspicious
not to mention anything birthday adjacent even when I ran into her.
When you get to a sensitivity championship of my level, you'll see
right through that stuff and think, That's odd… It's my birthday
today, but nobody's saying happy birthday to me… Aha! So they're
planning a surprise? And then the day just ends with nothing
happening. That's happened to me before.
If I anticipated such thoughts and wished Isshiki happy birthday now,
I would be able to divert her attention away from hopes for or
suspicion of a surprise. The plan here was to double the effect of the
surprise. An absolutely enchanting play, if I do say so myself…
As I was feeling smug, there was a tugging on my sleeve. When I
looked over like, What's up? I saw Isshiki was turned away, pouting.
"One can of coffee isn't enough, you know," she muttered sulkily.
"I'm not that cheap." Page | 89
I know. I do have my own sort of present for you… So I wanted to say,
but I swallowed it. I had to leave that for the surprise after school.
Despite her insistence about her worth, Isshiki didn't throw the Max
can back at me and just tucked it into her blazer pocket.
Instead, she offered me something else. "…Um, here, I'll give you
this."
"Oh, thanks." I reflexively gave a Thank you, I accept… sort of bow as
I took the I LOHAS she had been holding.
"…Huh? What?" I glanced up from my hands at Isshiki.
She was still looking away, but she answered my question
surprisingly directly. "It's a trade…for the coffee."
I see. I don't get it. Why did this girl give me an I LOHAS? I could
explain the Max can as a birthday gift. But I couldn't think of any
reason for me to get something from her.
"Oh-ho…" So then is this the straw millionaire thing? I wondered,
staring in confusion at the flavored water in my hands. Page | 90 Page | 91
Isshiki cleared her throat with a loud hmmm! Then she jabbed a
finger at me and puffed up her cheeks in a pout, as if to cover their
redness. "…It's an exchange, okay?! So the present you just gave me
is null and void!"
"Huh…?" Is that how presents work? Are you even if you give
something back?
Isshiki ignored my confusion and briskly moved the conversation
along. "Sooo you can give me a present later… How about this
weekend? I'm free, you know?"
"Huh? Ah, um, I was more or less considering getting you something
else…" I even planned to give it to you after school… So I wanted to
say, but since there was a surprise party, I couldn't tell her straight.
Oh, dilemma!
However Isshiki took my silence, she smiled brightly and leaned
forward on the bench. She gently laid one hand on my shoulder and
cupped the other around her mouth. And then with a sweet, syrupy
suggestion in her tone, Iroha Isshiki brought her lips close and
whispered, "The present is an excuse."
Before I could ask what for in a totally transparent attempt to play
dumb, Isshiki popped away again and smiled as if nothing had
happened.
My sigh was drowned out by the bell alerting us to the start of class,
and Isshiki stood up at the same moment and continued to walk a
few steps away. And then with a light flutter of her skirt, she turned
back again. As if to say she wouldn't even bother listening to my reply, she
waved and said, "Then I'm looking forward to the weekend!" before
hurrying off to the school building.
"O-okay…" There was nothing for it but to reply with a bewildered
nod at her retreating back, even knowing she wouldn't see it.
By force of gradual erosion, my weekend plans had been decided.
Oh, I'd expect nothing less of Irohasu.
The way she 100 percent recycled the plastic bottle she'd just bought
and then connected it to a future activity was awe-inspiring. She
doesn't just have me in the palm of her hand—she's got me wrapped
all the way around her little finger, too…
I didn't know how many more times we would repeat that same old
exchange. I could swear her tactics were the same as ever, and yet
they somehow felt like they had evolved—to become even more
cunningly, cutely clever.
A casual and nonchalant accumulation of mundane experiences. That
single action had clearly moved my heart and was assembling the
future ahead of us.
Irohasu really is the greatest…